When I heard Bentley fired its priest just before the holidays, my first reaction wasn't outrage or satisfaction, but rather "Bentley has a priest?" Do other car companies have clergypeople? Is that a thing? I'll look into that in more detail.

It seems Bentley decided to let their vicar, Rev. Francis Cooke, go because there are just too many people of varying faiths to merit a single Christian chaplain. Many employees at Bentley's Crewe factory are upset at the decision, and are actively trying to get the Reverend reinstated.

I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. I get Bentley's reasoning— with many faiths, having a factory-employed faith worker from one particular one could send a message of endorsement. Then again, as a Jew who's spent his entire life in an overwhelmingly Christian country, I don't think I'd really be offended or anything if I was building Bentleys in a factory with a priest. Same would go if they had an Imam or a Rabbi or a Wiccan priestess— I don't think it'd really matter to me that much.

Now, I don't think a clergyperson is essential to the production of Bentleys (I could be wrong— their emission system may involve divine intervention to turn CO2 into wine vapor) but there is something kind of sweet about a factory having some sort of spiritual advisor on board. Assuming other Bentley factories have similar people of God wandering the halls, maybe they could hire a small pool of clergyfolk more representative of their workers and rotate them around?

So, if — sorry, when — Bentley (or VW, their owners) comes to me asking for answers to this issue, I'm not sure what to tell them. Anyone have any ideas? I'm pretty sure we can figure this out.